Snowflake
by Chiel
Summary: [Fluffy]The sun was rising weakly, its golden glow drowning in the grey clouds and snowflakes.


**Disclaimer;** I wish.

---

Yuka stood on the cold steps outside the Kaede Inn. It has started snowing about an hour ago, and being the only one awake at five am, she was first to see it. The sun was rising weakly, its golden glow drowning in the grey clouds and snowflakes. She sighed and leant against an icy tree trunk, and pulled her jacket closer to her skin. Yuka had, though, neglected to get a jacket with a hood, so her lengthy brown hair was now coated with a fine layer of snow.

Upstairs Yuka could barely hear the yelling of someone, presumably one of the two teenage girls currently residing in the building. She couldn't hide her smile as the light came on, and there was frantic yelling before Nana, dragging a half-asleep and hastily dressed Mayu behind her.

"You didn't tell me it was snowing!" Nana accused as she looked out across the large area they called the garden. It was covered with mounds of white snow, and the trees held as much as they could on the branches.

"You would have yelled at me for waking you up," Yuka replied simply, still awed by the stunning landscape.

Mayu stood next to the pair, straightening out her clothes and rubbing her eyes tiredly, "You woke me up for this? I'm still tired," The girl whined, standing in the cover of the guttering that just hung over the entrance.

Nana didn't hear the moan, because she had made her way out into the garden, marveling at how her feet slipped into the deeper drifts of snow, and looking at the sky, trying to catch the unique flakes that fell from above.

Yuka just smiled at her, "She hasn't seen snow before, Mayu. Let her have fun."

Mayu returned the smile weakly and walked out into the snow, following her friend, who was prancing excitedly, almost dancing.

It wasn't long before Nana figured that you could make snow into small balls, and she sat on the ground making a collection of shapes out of snow. Yuka, who had been watching the events unfold, sat on the ground and began to make a snowball herself. She stood up again, and threw it at Nana, who had been totally ignorant to what was going on around her. Nana looked up, snow falling out of her hair.

"Yuka?"

"Yes, Nana?"

"Why did you throw snow at me?" Nana tilted her head curiously.

"Because that's what you do," Yuka replied simply, shrugging.

"Oh… It is?"

"Yep. Wait 'til Kouta and Lucy get up. Then it'll be war," She chuckled, "I suggest a fort."

"How do I make a fort?" Nana stood up, her eyes shining, and had moved over to Yuka, "Tell me, tell me!"

"Mayu knows," Yuka said, pointing to the girl who was playing happily with Wanta in the snow.

Nana made her way over to Mayu, quietly, and stared for a while. Mayu was picking up snow and shaking it above Wanta's head, watching the dog yip and try to catch the flakes in his mouth.

"Mayu… Come make a fort!" Said Nana brightly.

At this Mayu looked up, pulled from her little world, "Uhm… sure. Okay. Where should it go?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't made one before," Nana answered nervously.

"Well, we'll go in the corner here. That way no one can get us from behind. Okay?"

"Sure! So what should I do?"

"Well, Nana, we have to get a big pile of snow and make a fence from here," Mayu pointed about a meter away from the corner, "To here," And she pointed the same distance, except from the opposite side of the corner, "That way we have a curved face, and that's about all we do."

Nana nodded enthusiastically, and began to collect snow from a little distance away using her vectors. To a person who knew nothing about Diclonii it would seem as though several opaque, floating hands were carrying a large amount of snow for no reason.

---

"Okay Mayu!" Nana said proudly as she pointed to a large wall, almost two meters high. Her fort.

At this Yuka began to laugh, except hid it extremely well with a cough, and she mentioned heading inside for a bit, where, if you listened carefully enough, you could still hear her laughter.

Mayu walked up to the wall, eyes wide, "Uh, its too big. Its not meant to be that high… Maybe a meter. We just need to hide behind it, not hole up. So I think you might wanna take the top half off."

"Oh, alright," Nana replied, still cheerful, as a vector suddenly took out the top half of the wall, letting the pile of snow fall heavily to the ground, "Better?"

"Much," Mayu sighed, and took a large step back as the snow came crashing to the ground, "Now we need a hole to get in through."

Almost instantaneously a hole was made, large enough for the girls to crawl through. The fort looked almost complete, it was perfectly straight, and didn't look like it was going to fall over anytime soon. Mayu broke off a stick, hanging from a nearby tree and weighed down by snow, and walked over to the fort. With a calm hand she began to write on it, "What should we call it?"

"I don't know, whatever you want…" Nana replied, looking around, "What about Fort Snow or something?"

"Fort… Uhm… Fort Vector?"

"Sure. Fort Vector it is," Nana nodded happily as the fort was named after her – in a way.

Mayu smiled and carved 'Fort Vector' into the snow, and drew a small snowflake after the last 'r', "Now we wait."

"Wait?"

"For an enemy. We better start on the snowballs…" Mayu crawled into the reasonably cozy hide-out. She picked up some snow and began to mould it into balls, whilst Nana helped using vectors to collect and roll the cold weapons.

---

Lucy made her way quietly outside, and leant against the tree. Yuka had returned after her 'coughing' fit. The pair watched the young girls planning their strategy. Lucy sighed, picking up a small ball of snow, and began to make her own snow ball. With a smirk she threw it at the young girls, who paused and looked up.

"Its Lucy!" Mayu screamed, returning the attack.

Nana stood up, grinning quite evilly as around her rose seven vectors, each holding an individual ball of snow, "Why, so it is." At this, as though the words were a signal, the snow balls flew at the calm Lucy. With obvious style the older Diclonius thrust two of her vectors into the ground, the force causing her body to fly up, a feat easily met by Nana moments later. The two hovered there, a few meters above ground, vectors supporting them.

"Good morning, Nana."

"Good morning Lucy. I made a fort," The girl smiled cheerfully, indicating to her building with her hand, "Do you like it?"

Lucy just hovered there. She knew Silpelits had wild mood swings, changing from immaturity to sudden maturity without an obvious trigger, but this was strange.

"I do, Nana, but you seem to be forgetting something," Lucy replied simply, throwing a snowball at her, hitting her in the shoulder.

Nana turned around from admiring her handiwork, and glared at Lucy, "Hey!" She yelled, throwing several snowballs at Lucy, who dodged them easily.

On the ground below both Yuka and Mayu's necks were craned upwards, vectors twisted around them like strange columns. After a while of the two bouncing around the garden, throwing snow at each other, and performing various air-acrobatics, Kouta entered the scene. Obviously, the man wasn't worried by the vectors dancing around him, more about his body, which was currently tired and cold.

"Morning," Yuka nodded to Kouta, rubbing her neck.

"Good morning, Kouta," Mayu smiled at him quickly, then returned to watching the war.

"What're they doing?" Kouta voiced his thoughts as he looked upwards.

"Snowball fight. Nana built a fort, and now she's trying to take Lucy down," Yuka replied.

"Not happening," Kouta smirked as he watched the two battling it out. Sure, Nana tried, but Lucy was too good, "Why did she build a fort?"

"Never been in the snow before, I informed her it's what you do, and that you guys would come out and fight with them."

"… You made a promise for me again!" Kouta yelled, though it was more of a whine.

"I did," Yuka shrugged and pointed out into an empty patch of snow, "Now get your scrawny ass out there and build a fort."

"Why?" Kouta challenged.

"Because I said so."

And Yuka gave him that look, the 'you'd-better' look. Kouta hated that look.

---

"Lucy! You've proven your point, come down now," Kouta yelled upwards, watching as both girls slowly lowered themselves to the ground. Nana trotted off to build more snowballs, and Mayu followed soon after. Lucy herself hovered a few inches above ground, looking at Kouta.

"Why?"

"We have to make a fort…," Kouta sighed and said the obviously forced sentence.

"Why?"

"Cause Yuka will kill me if I don't."

"Oh…"

"Yeah. So you get those vectors out and make me a fort!" Kouta yelled enthusiastically, turning and pointing to a patch of flat snow, "Right there."

""I have to, don't I?" Lucy asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Ya-hu."

---

Yuka stood proudly in between the two couples, old rag held high in her arms, "Okay. Rules are, use snow. I'll accept the occasional tackle for the flag, but that's it. Oh, and this is capture the flag. Lucy and Kouta are red, whilst Nana and Mayu are blue. We all know how to play?" Both groups nodded, understanding the simple concept of 'Capture the Flag'

With a look at each side Yuka raised her arms to drop the cloth, but then remembered an important detail, "And no vectors! Lucy, Nana, I'm looking at you two." And the rag fell to the ground.

Though it was followed with a, "Well, duh!" From Kouta.

---

Lucy and Kouta crouched behind the fort, planning their moves as Nana and Mayu decided to creep forward.

"Okay. You hold them. Drive them back. I'll make a wide run and take it. Then, I need you to come forward and meet me there, okay?" Lucy explained and turned to Kouta.

"Sure. But wouldn't that mean leaving the base unattended?"

"We'll take a risk. They'll get me if I try to run both there and back. I'm not super-fit," Lucy smirked, "Lets go, okay?"

"Kay," Kouta nodded, grabbing a snowball in each hand and crouched, resting on the balls of his feet. With a quick jerk upwards Kouta had assessed the position of Mayu and Nana. They were both heading towards the base, as one group, and had seen him – a fact confirmed when a barrage of snowballs came over the fort. He risked another peek, noticing Mayu, being the shortest, would occasionally bend over and grab some snow, forming snowballs on the run. Nana was the only one throwing. Kouta turned, Lucy was gone. Then, he stood up, and threw a snowball, nearly hitting Nana, who dodged. He grabbed two more, and sent both in Mayu's direction. One hit her square on the shoulder. However, during his mini-victory dance, Kouta found he had been hit twice by Nana, and Mayu was back and working. With a grumble Kouta picked up two more and hurled them Mayu again, his plan to take out the maker of snowballs working.

Until Nana joined in, making her own on the run. Sure, she didn't have that smooth movement like Mayu, but she pulled it off. Kouta turned to try and find Lucy. He couldn't see her.

Then Nana paused and turned to Mayu, nodding as the young Diclonius turned and headed towards her base. Mayu slowed her advance, throwing the occasional snowball, not really bothering, merely doing it to keep Kouta on his toes. Kouta had gained valuable time though, and he worked on increasing the size of his pile, and would spare a glance upwards rarely.

"Nana!" Mayu cried, holding a position right next to the red base, "Lucy isn't here!"

Kouta cursed silently, and stood up, throwing a new collection of frozen weapons at Mayu. He'd run out and help Lucy, but then Mayu would grab the flag. So he had to just deal with it, and pray Lucy knew what she as doing.

---

"Lucy isn't here!" Confirming Nana's fears.

Her pink eyes scanned the terrain. No where the girl could hide, save a bush or too. With Mayu holding Kouta down at his base, Nana risked a look behind the bushes.

Nothing.

She turned back and found a very happy Lucy running down to where the base was. The older girl dove behind the base, grabbing the flag and waving it proudly above the fort wall, so Kouta would see it. Lucy then stood up, snowball in hand and located Nana. Running towards her, ready to take Lucy down no matter what.

"Mayu! Come get Lucy!" Nana's voice rang out across in the silence.

Mayu turned quickly, and began to run towards Lucy's location, followed by Kouta, a few meters behind. Both teams came together in the middle, as Lucy dodged, laughing at Nana as the younger girl tried to catch her. Of course, Lucy hadn't planned on Mayu.

"Lucy!" The cry came too late, as Mayu landed square on Lucy's back, and her Mayu's foot swung around in front of Lucy's, then pulled back sharply, causing both to land in a heap in the snow. Nana, seeing her chance, pounced forward and took the flag back, but was taken down by Kouta, who had wrapped a hand around Nana's ankle. Mayu sprung up, since she was on top of Lucy, and sprinted down towards the red base, whilst Nana headed off to return the blue piece of fabric to its honourable position. Kouta stood up, and looked at Lucy. There was a silent argument between who followed who, but it ended as Kouta began pursuing Nana. With more speed than the girl Kouta made it to the base, but it was too late, the flag was back, and Nana was protecting it, harsh glare on her face.

"Nana, can I have the flag? Or do I have to take it?" Kouta smiled as he faced the girl. In the background they could barely hear muffled squeals and giggles from the red base.

"Uh, no."

"Please?"

"No," Nana replied, stomping to emphasize.

"I'll have to take it," Kouta looked once more at Nana before diving down and grabbing at the blue flag. He rolled over and tried to stand, when he realized that Nana was standing on his hand.

"No you won't," She replied sternly, picking it up and placing it back in the fort, "It's ours."

Kouta rolled upwards and sat there for a minute, snow caked in his deep navy hair, whilst Nana kept her eyes on him. He shook his head slowly, and then moved to crouch, before sticking his leg out in front of Nana's and pulling back in a sharp swing.

It took mere seconds for Kouta to grab the flag and dart off, a very angry Nana hot on his heels.

---

Lucy reached the red base seconds after Mayu did, the girl in question turning around to head back to base, red flag in hand. Lucy just smiled and walked forward, causing Mayu to either move back or lose the flag.

"Lucy…," Mayu began slowly.

"Yes?"

"Move back."

"Why?"

"I'll put the flag down."  
" Why? I know you won't," Lucy asked, then paused, before continuing.

"Well… shut up," Mayu retorted.

"…. Why?" Lucy asked, leaning down to look into Mayu's face. Whilst Mayu had been hurriedly thinking of a plan Lucy had closed the gap.

Mayu ducked down and to the right, running as if her life depended on it. She could see Kouta in the distance, holding what appeared to be her flag. Mayu jumped as she remembered she was being chased too, and sped off, dodging Lucy as the older girl grabbed at her.

Lucy pursued expertly, as the two groups came closer and closer. Mayu was more skilled than Nana was, randomly ducking and changing course, swerving and jumping. Kouta, though, decided straight was the best way to go. Nana had no issues, following keenly, and neither did Lucy, who had always been a fan of dodging whilst running – like a little dance.

---

The pair met in a beautiful clash in the center of the play field.

Kouta made a quick side-step through Lucy and Mayu, throwing Nana off entirely. Lucy stuck her hand out and quickly stole the blue flag, running back towards her base before Nana jumped on her, legs wrapped around Lucy's waist. In a desperate attempt to get Nana off Lucy threw herself to the ground, and gave a satisfied smile as Nana's grip weakened.

Meanwhile Kouta was quickly forcing Mayu back; cutting off her routes of escape like a sheepdog, and soon after began herding her into a smaller corner. Mayu just smiled and dove down, heading under his right arm, before changing course and moving through his legs, which he had opened as he side-stepped to stop her original escape. Mayu turned back to her goal, smirk threatening to make itself known on her face. And it would do her no good to get so confident.

Kouta caught up quickly, and tried to send Mayu towards Lucy and Nana, who were still fighting on the ground, half covered in snow. It worked perfectly.

A secret plan, concocted from the silence between Lucy and Kouta.

Lucy rolled, pinning Nana beneath her, and holding the younger girl there with her knees.

Kouta sent Mayu towards Nana.

And Lucy's hand flicked out gracefully, grabbing Mayu mid-shin.

The girl tumbled to the ground; flag fell out of her fingers.

---

"Okay! That's it!" Yuka walked forward, as both parties lay entangled in the snow, "I'm going to have to call this a tie."

Kouta frowned, and stood up, helping Mayu up with his hand. The two dusted the snow off, and looked at Lucy, who has laying comfortably on top of Nana.

"I'm going to go get dried off," Mayu stated, "Who wants hot chocolate?"

A chorus of "Me"s followed Mayu.

"I shotgun shower," Kouta yelled, and ran inside.

"I'll go get some towels," Yuka sighed and followed him.

---

Lucy smirked pleasantly at Nana.

"I think we know what these means."

"What?" Nana inquired quietly.

"I win."

---

**End**

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**AN; **Hope you liked. I guess I did it cause we don't _have_ snow.


End file.
